


like a gentleman

by Anonymous



Category: AB6IX (Band), MXM (Band), Produce 101 (TV)
Genre: M/M, cyberpunk elements, diamond girl verse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-20
Updated: 2018-10-20
Packaged: 2019-08-04 19:36:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,914
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16352924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: In a toss up between seeing his idol and supporting Youngmin's going-nowhere relationship, Jaehwan naturally chooses his idol. This is what happens to Youngmin in the aftermath.





	like a gentleman

1\. 볼수록 더 탐이나

 

The office is in Business District 02. When he was a child, Youngmin had passed by this area often, any time his dad took him to a baseball game at the stadium. He could remember the clear dome seperated from everything surrounding it; the dusty red earth slowly being terraformed into something liveable; the shattered starlight where, inside the dome, natural time still reigned rather than corrected time. It had been a shock to arrive there last year for his job interview. A forest of towering, dark buildings and straight, clean roads lined with neat hedges. The blue sky with perfect clouds whiter than milk. There were two parks - identical squares of grass with saplings planted equidistant from each other - where workers ate their lunches. Birds and insects had been allowed in only recently. Before that, pollination had been done by scientists in white overalls and black masks with delicate brushes in their gloved hands, properly determining the ideal genetic matches.

For Youngmin, who was born and raised in Agricultural District 05, it's hard to adjust. He placidly watches a hornet hovering above a rubbish chute as he munches his sandwich. He still feels uncomfortable in his suit. His whole job involves editing machine translated instruction manuals and he doesn't see why he shouldn't be allowed to do that in jeans and a flannel shirt. On the other hand, he'd stick out like a sore thumb. Glancing around the park, the most outlandishly dressed person is the girl in a dark purple pencil skirt where her colleagues all have navy blue.

He takes a deep breath and exhales slowly. He can't wait for the weekend. (It's only Tuesday). He throws his rubbish in the chute and checks his messages as he wanders back to the office. Jonghyun sent pictures of the Primary School 03 kids preparing for Settlement Day. Sewoon's updating them from his holiday at his granduncle's place on Earth. Jaehwan, Youngmin's roommate, is having a minor breakdown because his favourite singer is coming to a neighbouring star for a couple of concerts but Jaehwan can't afford the transport on top of the tickets. Finally, Donghyun - Youngmin's friend who's still at college - sent him a coffee selfie covered in star emoji.

     [ _Hyungah~ Your still on 4 this weekend right???_ ]

  
[ _Of course :D Can't wait, Dongdong-ah_ ]     

Youngmin finds himself smiling as he walks past the anonymous concrete buildings, his anonymous, ill-fitting suit flapping at his ankles. There'll be a meteor shower in a few days, one of the most spectacular in years, so the forecasters say. Youngmin's driving Donghyun out to New Territory so they can sit under the skydome and watch it together. Whenever he thinks about it, the hedges seems more green and alive and the filtered sky more blue.

 

There's a metro from just outside his workplace to near his flat in the Old Quarter, so Youngmin saves his aging, environmentally hideous car and takes that most days. Tonight, he drags himself home, buying two bags of japchae from a foodstand on the way. When he eventually gets back, his 23rd floor flat is in darkness. He puts Jaehwan's noodles in the fridge for him to get whenever he's home. He tears off his suit and sits on the sofa in pyjama pants a frog-green hoodie he's had since he was 16. That's where he wakes up at 3am with a stale taste in his mouth. He brushes his teeth and pads to bed to get a few hours of sleep on his actual mattress. It's eerily silent in the flat. No music playing, no roommate snoring, no anything. Youngmin shuts Jaehwan's bedroom door on his way and doesn't think anymore about it. The musician frequently keeps strange hours, he's probably crashing at a friends or at the studio. It's not until the next morning, trudging bleary eyed to the shower, that Youngin spots the note pinned to the telescreen.

     [ _Youngminnie-hyong!!! Firstly, I'm really sorry..._ ]

 

He races down to the building's underground carpark just to check he's not being pranked. Other office workers in their black suits eye him strangely or greet him a polite good morning if they're acquainted. Youngmin stands in the empty parking space, blinking as if his car might materialise around him if he looks hard enough. It doesn't. Youngmin plans Jaehwan's death.

Frankly, Youngmin isn't very familiar with vengeance though. So, in more practical mode, he calls Jonghyun and asks for help. Youngmin's metro hasn't even dropped him at work when Jonghyun gets back to him with a list of pawnbrokers in the area. He's crossed off some for only specialising in jewellery or small antiques. Youngmin breathes a sigh and spams Jonghyun with heart emoji. The teacher is just the sort of clear-headed, technologically not-incompetent friend you need in a crisis.

He's examining the list as he piles off the metro with the other suits. Some of the addresses are pretty far apart for a vehicle-less soul such as he. He'll have to get out early, he decides. He'll work through lunch, call in one of the many favours Yongguk owes him, whatever it takes. He gives himself a quiet fistbump. The five-eyed security guard on the entrance sees and glares at him with two of those eyes. When Youngmin gets to his cubicle, he spots a new message from Donghyun.

     [ _Hyungah♡ My afternoon lecture got canceled!! Can we get lunch???_ ]

  
[ _Great! Just msg me when you're around_ ]     

Youngmin drags a hand down his face even as he's hitting send. So much for working through.

 

One of the useful things about working in a recently opened district is how the rain still operates a fairly fixed schedule. This being so, Youngmin really doesn't have any excuse for getting caught in the wide-open boulevard when the shower starts. Donghyun grabs Youngmin's arm and together they dash down to the alley where the foodstands are permitted to do business. Donghyun pulls him forcefully under the awning of a fried food stand. The grandma running the place has two blank, faintly glowing screens where her eyes had, presumably, grown useless and been replaced. She scans them while her third, steel arm lazily stirs a fragrant, vibrantly orange broth.

"Im Youngmin from New Brand Corporation. Good afternoon. Is this your friend?"

Donghyun pretends not to notice the suspicious note in her preserved voice, fixing his wet hair in his reflection on the counter. Youngmin can't blame the old woman. If the idiocy of getting caught in the rain wasn't remarkable enough, Donghyun's blond dye-job and ripped jeans, seemingly held together by patches and positive thinking, were certainly firsts for Business District 02.

"Yes, this is my hoobae from college."

A shift in the light from her flat, iron black eyes lets him know they're being scanned again. Who knows what the old woman is looking for.

"Lovely," she states at last, almost sounding like she means it, "What can I get you two?"

The rain redoubles its efforts, rattling cacophonously on the metal and plastic rooves of the foodstands. Donghyun shivers, shuffling closer to Youngmin and resting his chin on the man's shoulder. Youngmin blurts out an order, immediately forgetting whatever it was he just said.

 

Lunch isn't good When the rain stops, they slip out of the alley to stroll in the Sun, hands clasped, faces raised to the warmth. But Youngmin's head is miles away and Donghyun does notice.

"Is something on your mind? Work tiring?"

"No, no. There's nothing," Youngmin assured him and kept assuring him.

"You're busy lately, right? Hyungah probably has things he needs to rush back to."

"No, not particularly. I want to spend time with Donghyunnie." And Youngmin thinks he sounded genuine. He genuinely meant it. But he still lost the thread of their conversation and got distracted whilst Donghyun was telling him about a project for his composition class. They said goodbye at the station and there was something in the way Donghyun said 'thank you for lunch' and did not hug him that let Youngmin know he'd well and truly messed up.

He'll explain everything, he tells himself. Once he's got his car back from whatever pawnbroker Jaehwan flogged it to. It'll be easier then. With hindsight, it'll transform into a funny anecdote and not something that's making Youngmin feel on the verge of a heartattack. (Or perhaps that's just the four cups of coffee he's had to power him through the evening). They'll all laugh about it. That's what Youngmin tells himself. However, as the night progresses, he knows he'll have to tell Donghyun sooner rather than later.

For one, there are the series of messages he receives from Jaehwan. His roommate has scored tickets for both nights' concerts from a scalper. He's met his idol at the starport and even got his face in a massive group selfie the singer took for his official sns. He'll be back on Sunday and he hopes Youngmin understands why he did what he did and isn't too terribly angry. Youngmin doesn't bother replying. He is, in fact, Quite Angry. But it'd be like talking to a wall. In any case, the upshot is that Jaehwan won't be back in time to help Youngmin get his car back. Which, it turns out, is a big problem.

"You don't look like the guy who came in," the woman behind the counter accuses.

He's found the place. It was the penultimate on that list Jonghyun gave him. Unlike the greasy men with faces full of implants running most of these places, the one presiding over this establishment is rake thin and beautiful. Her long black hair had the unnatural gleam and rustle of precious metal filaments, but her pretty face was all natural, Youngmin thought, even her brown eyes peering hungrily through a magnifying glass at another customer's jewellery. She wore countless diamond chains wrapped around her neck and, judging from its length must have done so since she was young. While he'd been waiting, Youngmin had tried to remember where that was the tradition. He could picture the shaky hologram in his social studies textbook back in middle school - women with thin, fragile necks twice as long as average and held tightly in jewels and bangles. He can't for the life of him remember where it happened though. And maybe he's too distracted by that, because it takes him a while to understand what she's saying.

"He wasn't me. He was my roommate. The car's mine and he had no right to pawn it."

"His ID said it was his. So what do you want me to do about it?"

Youngmin thinks she's lying. Maybe Jaehwan bothered to get a fake ID before trying his luck. It's very possible. But the tight scowl on her red lips makes him near positive she's lying - she never even asked for ID. What can he do though? At her raised counter, with her distended neck, she's looking down at him from a great height. The counter is caged and surrounded by security cameras. Youngmin guesses that, if he so much as grimaces, she'll have him tasered and locked away by the community police - always such friends to local businesspeople.

"Well, this is my ID and the car's registration. As you can clearly see, this is all genuine."

"And?" she snaps, not glancing at the papers he's laid on the cool, metal counter, "His _looked_ genuine too. You'll have to have them notarised."

"What?"

"Young man," (she doesn't look more than a few years older than him, but he lets it slide. Perhaps he was mistaken about her face being natural, he concedes), "What if I believe you, but your papers turn out to be the forgeries? I can't run that risk. It would damage my business. There's nothing for it. Get these notarised and come back to me."

Shellshocked, he gathers his things and leaves. Eager men push past him, ready to present their valuables for her to inspect. Outside, Youngmin sits on a wall, sipping his fifth coffee. He knows already, but he calls Jonghyun anyway just to check.

"Getting a solicitor to notarise your ID and car reg and everything? I hope you don't need it soon, that kind of thing will take you at least two weeks."

Youngmin crushes the empty cup and launches it towards the nearest rubbish chute, which sucks the mangled thing out of the air and into the dark nothingness. With a tremble in his heart that he chooses to believe is caused by coffee, he calls Donghyun to cancel their date to see the meteor shower.

 

2\. 오래 가다렸어, 너를 데려갈게

Donghyun is understanding. Of course he is. Donghyun's one of the kindest people Youngmin's ever met and unlikely to hold a rogue roommate against Youngmin. And this is horrid because, if anything, Donghyun's kindness makes Youngmin feel worse. Oh gods, he wanted to go on that trip. They'd queue up around dawn to get through quarantine. Out in New Territory, terraforming had been halted early as an experiment. It had become liveable for the ranchers who chose to dedicate themselves to that life. However, the florae and faunae were evolving in different directions and weren't allowed to infiltrate the other districts. This made excrutiating queues at customs inevitable. But they'd be through eventually, in a few hours. Then out on the rutted, stony roads, driving freely under the vast purple and black sky. Donghyun would be beside him, taking charge of the stereo and charming the locals with his smile. And Youngmin would feel like the good sunbae he used to be in college, instead of the hyung who has to pencil in a slot to see his favourite dongsaeng.

Youngmin spends much of Thursday dwelling on all the things that ought to have happened under the meteor shower. He can't even muster the energy to get angry when Jaehwan sends him shaky video of day one of the concerts. At least, he supposes, sighing deeply at the instructions for building a dovecote lying on the desk in front of him, _someone_ is having fun.

When he goes home that evening, he buys cup noodles and a beer and is intent on sitting in his underpants for the rest of the night. The plan doesn't work out. A light is shining behind his front door. When he unlocks it and steps into his brightly lit flat, he hears music playing softly and noises like furniture being moved around.

"Hello?" he calls, hoping that if it's a thief, he'll leave quickly and he can get on to that 'sitting in his underpants' job.

"In here~!"

"Donghyun-ah?"

The boy is in Youngmin's bedroom. To be precise, he's on all fours, his head under Youngmin's bed and his bum towards the door.

"Hi, Dongdong's arse," Youngmin greets, perching on the edge of his bed.

"Hey, Nyoungminnie-hyung's face!" the boy singsongs.

"Are those jeans new?" Youngmin asks curiously. They're unexpectedly lacking rips or patches or oil stains. Also, they make Donghyun's skinny backside look really nice, but that's neither here nor there.

"Nope." Donghyun finally emerges, dragging a cardboard box with him. A coupe of tiny spiders scuttle off it and back into the gloom. Threads of cobwebs are clinging to Donghyun's hair - chestnut brown today. "Borrowed them from Gunhee. Are any of these valuable?"

Kneeling on the floor, he's pulled back the flaps of the box and is picking over what's inside. It's all old gadgets - the sort of electric cars and drones Youngmin played with when he was in highschool.

"Their sentimental value is through the roof."

"And their actual value?"

"Fuck all."

Donghyun tsks. With a fist on his hip, he looks up at Youngmin.

"What about your decks. Are they genuine Strads?"

"Of course not," Youngmin laughs, but Donghyun frowns. On instinct, Youngmin pats his head, brushing his messy hair, in hopes of melting the frown away a little. "What's with you?"

It works a little. Donghyun leans imperceptibly into his touch.

"I spoke to Gunhee. He says he hasn't laid eyes on Jaehwannie-hyung in over a month." When Youngmin just peers blankly at him, Donghyun scoffs. He picks himself up and sits beside Youngmin on the bed lacing their fingers together. "Hyung, have you forgotten how Gunhee and his crew make their money?"

After a beat, it comes back to him. Of course. Lee Gunhee could always be relied on for a reasonably priced fake ID, school certificates or anything else you might need. Jaehwan's not beyond buying a forgery, but Gunhee's the only one he'd purchase it from.

"I went to that pawnbroker. I told her I knew for a fact she'd neglected to ask Jaehwan for proof the car was his."

"Dongdong-ah, that was dangerous," Youngmin gasps, squeezing the boy's knee.

"Hyungah, it's OK," Donghyun tries to placate Youngmin. His twitchy smile belie him - he knows barging in there on his own wasn't a great idea. But, "I got her to give me a price. She said we can buy your car back and 'sort it out with our friend' so long as she doesn't have to see us again."

Youngmin stares. For a moment, he sees himself as he'd anticipated - hopeless, exhausted Youngmin, sitting in his boxers, slurping tasteless noodles and feeling lonely. Then he sees Donghyun in front of him, smile on his soft lips and fire of determination ablaze in his eyes. Youngmin hugs him.

"You're wonderful. Let's do this."

 

They need to raise about a thousand dollars. The rest Youngmin can afford if he sort of doesn't eat or turn the light on much until Jaehwan (fingers crossed) pays him back. Donghyun offers to contribute to the fund, but Youngmin refuses the student until, with a sigh of intense exasperation, he gives up. Donghyun's other idea - and, as frustrating as it is, Youngmin agrees with him - is that the quickest way to raise cash is to pawn something. Donghyun's valuables mostly consist of things he'll fail college without - his guitar, his tablet, his amp... This is why they're stuck raiding Youngmin and Jaehwan's flat.

Those old toys go, despite Youngmin being fairly certain they're junk. Any clothes with a brand name. The broken watch that used to be his dad's. The busted hoverskates Jaehwan used once - and fractured his ankle after losing control and crashing into a post van. Even a bunch of the cutlery, because Youngmin's not sure but they scrub really shiny so they _might_ be worth something. Its pushing midnight by the time they're through. The metro drops them off and they walk the last few narrow, blackened streets to the pawnbrokers, lugging two heavy boxes and a bulging canvas bag with them.

The usual night life is out. Youngmin didn't mind them much the other night. Now though, with Donghyun beside him, he feels more aware. It's not as if the student is innocent or can't take care of himself - Donghyun's vicious left hook is semi-legendary around campus. However, none of that makes Youngmin feel better about bringing his dongsaeng here. They weave around the fight that's erupted outside a gambling den, past the pink-lit, perfumed whore house, and crossing the road to avoid the dead-eyed regulars outside the independent apothecary. There's a drunk, naked from the waist down, singing for coins outside a dingy bar. He's wearing a threadbare camouflage jacket and one of his legs is a mesh of robotics. Feeling pity on the old soldier, they tarry long enough for Donghyun to retrieve some cash from Youngmin's back pocket - Donghyun having the only free hand between them - and put it in the man's can.

"This is quite an area," he mumbles into Youngmin's ear when they're together again. Youngmin's face flushes.

"Let's go," he murmurs and lets Donghyun hurry to catch up.

They wait for an hour, sitting close together in the chilly lobby stinking of peppermint and stale smoke. The clients are again all men, Youngmin notes, though all different. There's a nervous, fidgety middle-aged man in a suit; a foreigner with large eyes set wide apart on his head and tentacle like fingers toying with his wallet; a student in trendy clothes and shades, but with the blue-ish complexion of a New Territory ranching family... Something they have in common, Youngmin spots with a sinking heart, is what they're bringing to pawn. Jewels. Sapphire and gold bracelets. Ruby studded bangles. Broken strings of pearls. Diamond rings of every description. That tentacly foreigner is ogling them and their boxes of stuff. Youngmin puts a hand on Donghyun's knee and squeezes gently. Donghyun puts his hand on Youngmin's and squezes back. Whether he's reassuring Donghyun or vice versa, Youngmin's not quite sure. Anyway, it helps him keep composed during the arduous wait for their number to appear on the board above the pawnbrokers cage.

 

A bust. The trip is a bust. They do their best with the pawnbroker, but they're still one hundred dollars away from getting Youngmin's car back. She tilts her head on its long, jewel-bound neck, metal hair shimmering and whispering with every graceful motion, and stares at them like they're idiots. When Youngmin's having breakfast the following morning, the and-finally on the news is all about the meteor shower. Youngmin could cry. He wants so badly to pull a sickie and crawl back into bed.

Donghyun had said it was fine. They'd said good night at the metro station. Donghyun had hugged him loosely and told him not to worry, they could do something else that Saturday, it was really fine. But it wasn't fine. It wasn't fine that Youngmin had brought Donghyun to that slum for, in the end, no good reason. It's not at all fine that, when Youngmin and Donghyun _can_ see each other, Youngmin's getting distracted. It's not OK that this day he's been dreaming about has slipped through his fingers. And do you know what else? It's not very OK that Jaehwan has apparently hooked up with a fellow fan at the concert day-1 after party, and now Youngmin's being thanked by his roommate for providing him the opportunity to meet a hottie such as she.

Youngmin doesn't pull a sickie. He goes to work like a responsible adult. He mindlessly edits manuals on the operation of a certain brand of tractor. During lunch, Jonghyun sends him a video of the kids in settler costumes singing the local anthem. It rises a slight smile, but Youngmin still feels adrift and exhausted.

When he arrives home that evening, once again there's a light under the door.

"Donghyunnie?" he calls, stepping into the hall.

"In here!"

Youngmin finds him lying on his stomach on the sofa, scrolling through a comic book. His hair has changed colour again, to a dark, chocolaty brown. Youngmin sits on the arm of the sofa and fingers the soft strands curiously. Donghyun grins up at him.

"Does Hyungah want to eat and get changed first or should we leave right away?"

"Dongdong-ah?" Youngmin cocks his head in a question. Chuckling, Donghyun pushes himself into a sitting position (making Youngmin, unhappily, have to relinquish his hair).

"We're getting your car back."

Youngmin's eyes narrow.

"Where'd you get the cash?" he demands.

"Long story, Hyungah. Let me tell you on the way, OK?" With that, he's ushering Youngmin away to get changed and, within a quarter of an hour, they're back on the metro, heading to the pawnbroker's.

 

3\. 어둠 속에 있어도 널 찾을 수 있는 걸

It is a long story. At the end, Youngmin's still a bit lost. But the abridged version goes something like this. Donghyun tells Donghan. Donghan tells Shihyun, the adorable boy from his anatomy class. Shihyun tells Yongguk - the origin of their friendship is mysterious, even Donghyun doesn't know. Yongguk does not decide to pay back one of the numerous favours he owes Youngmin, but rather laughs at his colleagues misfortune. Only, then Shihyun makes The Face - which Donghyun assures Youngmin is a serious matter - and now Donghyun has a wedge of Yongguk's money in his backpocket, Youngmin's arm in his and, basically, he's excited for their date. Personally, Youngmin feels like there are details of this story he's not being told. But he lets any doubts go in favour of listening to Donghyun go on and on about what they'll do tomorrow. Basically, Youngmin's excited too.

At the pawnbroker's, she counts their cash, face held in an irritated mien. Donghyun and Youngmin smile up at her expectantly. She rolls her beautiful eyes and clicks her tongue. A hunchback with a great round head full of wires and circuitry lumbers to her side. She whispers a few words and he trundles away to a back room, reappearing a minute later with Youngmin's car keys clutched in his pink fist.

 

Since they need to set off so early, Donghyun stays over, catching a few hours sleep on the sofa. Youngmin doesn't sleep much. As if to mock him, Jaehwan sends him a long, drunken video message about all he's got up to with his concert girlfriend. (Youngmin suspects Jaehwan's point was supposed to be how something good came out of him pawning Youngmin's car. Youngmin has a silent scream into is pillow and concentrates on seeing the big picture in this mess)

Eventually, they're through quarantine and the vastness of New Territory unfurls before them. The sky is pale lilac, filled with insects flitting amongst the fields of tall bloodflowers. Starlings and huge, fat ravens perch in the citrus trees. Girls in sandals, with long ponytails, drive goats along the road, forcing them and the other cars to wait. Donghyun oohs and aahs as the animals pass.

"One of them was looking at me, really staring," he informs Youngmin.

"Maybe you're his spirit animal," Youngmin suggests, distracted by the pink and gold sunlight as it shines on his friend's sleepy smile.

"Maybe," Donghyun agrees and goes back to watching the last of the goats wriggly white tails amble past the vehicle.

There's a village just before the road narrows and climbs up he mountain. They stop there to eat at a restaurant amongst the houses built of black stones. The Sun is beginning to set. The air is cool and pleasant. In a field nearby, there's a tractor working which Youngmin happens to know is a dual power Zetor Ferguson 8000. The sky is a rich violet. The evening is filled with the chirring of insects. They sit outside at a round wooden table, eating their rolls and watching the restaurant's grey cat hunt mantises in the bushes.

"Are you a couple?" the stout, middle aged man in charge of the little restaurant asks them apropos of nothing. Youngmin, with a mouth full of bread and boiled meat, is beaten to an answer by Donghyun.

"Sure!" he chirps, slinging an arm around Youngmin's shoulders. Youngmin turns ten shades of red.

The man explains that a lot of couples come through the village for events like the meteor shower or a lunar eclipse and the like, and they offer discounted rooms if Youngmin and Donghyun happened to need accomodation.

"Hm, but I think we'll just sleep in Hyung's car, right?" Donghyun responds. While this is true, Donghyun, for no obvious reason, waggles his eyebrows then. Youngmin only nods and forces more food down his throat so he won't have to speak. He swears he'll kill Donghyun one of the days.

"Say no more," the man says with a wink and plods off to talk to the restaurant's two other customers - who, now Youngmin comes to consider it, look much less like 'sisters' than he'd first assumed.

 

The dark sky is a sea of diamonds. Meteors fall, darting white trails across Youngmin's vision. It's so much better than on the telescreen at home. Up here in the rocky hills, there's the distant babble of a stream, the occasional chirp of a bug, and nothing else. Lying together on the bonnet of Youngmin's old car like this, they could be the last people alive. Unconsciously, Youngmin's arm tightens around Donghyun.

"It's beautiful. This was worth it," the student mumbles. It's the first thing either of them have said in a long time and it takes a moment for Youngmin to make his vocal chords work.

"Yeah. I'm sorry about everything. All the hassle just to get here."

"No, it was worth it," Donghyun repeats. He turns his face to Youngmin then, and Youngmin can't help but stare. His eyes are bright under the starlight, his mouth is an easy, warm smile. He's so close. Youngmin fancies he can feel his breath, just faintly, just enough to make all Youngmin's nerves come alive. Gosh, he likes him so much.

Then Donghyun kisses him. A chaste kiss on the mouth, smile lingering on his lips. He pulls back, but still close, Youngmin's arm still holding him near. It's the first time they've kissed when it wasn't a stupid dare, nor were they drunk. And Youngmin is perplexed because he's freaking out so much less than he presumed he would. Kissing Donghyun back doesn't feel scary (much). It feels right, it feels like what his soul's been wanting to do since Donghyun careered into his life back in university. Speaking of, Donghyun's pretty smile, it's starting to slip so, before Youngmin receives a deadly punch in the chest, he threads his fingers through the boy's hair and draws him close.


End file.
